Las Vegas Aces star Aja Wilson was the unanimous choice as the WNBA MVP, the league announced Sunday.
The Aces’ versatile forward averaged 26.9 points and 11.8 rebounds this season. She is only the second player to win the award unanimously, joining Cynthia Cooper of the Houston Comets, who did so in the league’s inaugural season in 1997.
Wilson received all 67 first-place votes from a national media panel, making her a three-time honoree (2020 and 2022.) She is the fourth player in WNBA history to reach that milestone, joining Sherly Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson.
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (467 points) finished second, followed by New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (295 points), Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (130 points) and Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas (83 points) in fifth.
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Wilson finished third in MVP voting last year, earning a fourth-place vote that she said fueled the Essen’s second straight WNBA title.
“It was driving me a little bit when I started my off-season workouts, but around February I was over it,” she said. “I didn’t want to give that person that energy, that’s when I started locking up.”
Wilson finished the regular season with 1,021 points, 451 rebounds and led the league with 98 blocks. The 6-foot-4 Wilson broke the WNBA single-season scoring average record, which had been set by Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi in 2006 (25.3 ppg).
She had a season-high 42 points against Dallas and a few days later dropped 41 against Phoenix. Overall, she scored at least 20 points in 34 of her 38 games. She was relentless in rebounding, grabbing 9.8 defensive rebounds a game, the highest average in a season in league history.
Wilson’s 11.87 rebounding average is third best in league history, behind Angel Reese and Sylvia Fowles.